During the award-winning month, Vargas was 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA (8 ER, 44.0 IP) with 26 strikeouts while allowing no more than three earned runs in any start, two-or-fewer in five starts and one-or-fewer in four of the six starts.

During July, the left-hander ranked 2nd in wins (5), 1st in ERA (1.64), 2nd in innings (44.0) to Felix Hernandez, 6th in opponents batting average (.206) and the Mariners won five of his six starts.

Vargas tied a Mariners record with five wins in a month, becoming the 20th player to do so and the first since Felix Hernandez won five in September of 2009. He also became the 14th pitcher to go 5-0 in a month.

Over the next five games (starting tonight), the Mariners will send to the mound five different starting pitchers, all from different countries. Erasmo Ramirez (Nicaragua) will start things off and will be followed by Jason Vargas (United States) in the Sunday finale against the Boston Red Sox. The three pitchers who will face off against the Baltimore Orioles starting on Monday will be Hisashi Iwakuma (Japan), Felix Hernandez (Venezuela) and Hector Noesi (Dominican Republic).

That 5-day rotation leads us to ask, how many countries have been represented by Mariners pitchers? When you add in the left-hander from the bullpen Oliver Perez (Mexico), and of course the American-born players, the list grows to seven on the active roster.

Since the Mariners began playing in 1977, pitchers from 12 different coutries have toed the rubber for the team including the United States (271 pitchers), Australia (2), Canada (7), Columbia (1), Cuba (2), Dominican Republic (16), Japan (5), Mexico (5), Nicaragua (2), Puerto Rico (7), South Korea (1) and Venezuela (8).

For the third time in four days, a Mariners starting pitcher recorded double-digits in strikeouts last night. Jason Vargas tied his career-high with 10 punchouts, joining rotation-mates Felix Hernandez (10 Saturday at SD) and Erasmo Ramirez (10 Monday vs. OAK).

The Mariners and Padres meet today in Cactus League play at 1:05 pm MT/12:05 pm PT. There are a number of ways to follow the action of today’s game (and the rest of the spring games), including the following:

You can listen to Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims call today’s game on 710 ESPN Seattle and select stations on the Mariners Radio Network in the Northwest. The game will also be carried live online at Mariners.com (subscription based).

All of the games Mariners spring games will feature batter by batter updates via MLB.com’s Gameday.

Weather: Not a cloud in the sky during workouts as the temperatures hovered in the lower to mid-60’s.

Quote of the Day: “Heads Up!” – Players and coaches yelled to General Manager Jack Zduriencik warning him after infielder Vinnie Catricala hit a scorching line drive that nearly hit the golf cart Jack was riding in. This following a shot down the line that almost took out a group of photographers.

Vinnie Catricala

The Day: Day 5 was very similar to day 4, with pitchers taking PFP (Pitcher’s Fielding Practice), while half the pitchers had a throwing session in the bullpen. Starters Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas and Blake Beavan threw their third bullpen session, while a crowd of coaches and media stayed and watched pitchers Stephen Pryor, Erasmo Ramirez, Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton throw in the bullpen as well.

So far 60 of the 66 players invited to Major League camp have been spotted around the complex. The position players will officially report tomorrow for physicals, while the first full squad workout is on Saturday.

Infielder Vinnie Catricala impressed many of the coaches during his BP session this afternoon. Besides nearly taking of the GM and half the photographers watching, he was hitting the ball all over field. Looks like he is picking up exactly where he left off at the end of last year. Catricala was named the Mariners Minor League Player of the Year in 2011, after hitting .349 (182×521) with 101 runs scored, 77 extra-base (2B – 48, 3B – 4, HR – 25) and 106 RBI in 133 games combined between A High Desert and AA Jackson. Among full season minor leaguers he ranked 2nd in extra-base hits, 3rd in hits, T3rd in doubles, T4th in batting average and T9th in RBI.

Tweet of the Day:

Man it feels good to be back on the field. Its #baseball season. #mariners. It was a lil chilly today but.Otherwise perfect. Weather

Carlos Peguero wins the award for longest drive of the day. He launched a mammoth shot that hit the 32-foot-high batter’s eye in center field 410-feet away to highlight BP. Not sure if the ball bounced back to the field or got stuck in the chain-link fence.

A group of 35 of the Mariners top Minor League players are in camp today for physicals to take part in the team’s annual mini camp for many of top lower-level prospects. The first workout for mini-camp players is tomorrow and workouts will run through March 1. Mini-camp is an opportunity for players to receive one-on-one instruction from the coaching staff and work on improvement plans for Spring Training and the rest of the 2012 season. Among players taking part in the mini camp are highly regarded prospects right-handed pitchers Victor Sanchez and Carter Capps, catcher Marcus Littlewood, infielders Brad Miller and Cavan Cohoes and outfielders Guillermo Pimentel, Phillips Castillo and Jabari Blash.

It feels like the 2011 season just ended, but here we are having landed in Phoenix, AZ, and arrived at the Mariners side of the Peoria Sports Complex today for the start of another great year of baseball. When the Mariners have their first official workout of the spring on Sunday, we’ll be the only Cactus League team, or Major League team for that matter, to be open for camp.

The fields are not completely empty. The Doosan Bears, a professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea, have been working out at the complex and will continue to work out here until February 19 in preparation for their regular season.

The Doosan Bears, a professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea, will be practicing at the Peoria Sports Complex ahead of their regular season.